will feature an idealistic would-be knight, an idealistic but extremely cynical town watch member, a 600-year-old wood elf who has a little magic and is terrible keen on progress as it applies to firearms, and an artisan who adheres to most dwarven stereotypes but is in fact a short human.

The knight is the only one who can read, and the elf is their best medic, in the sense they have a 50% chance of binding wounds, rather than under 40%.

After one session:

The knight is a killing machine, with poor social graces in his current context. Well, that isn't quite true: he knows courtly manners. He just doesn't think they apply in the Empire and is very irritated that the peasants keep making eye contact.

The artisan is a relentless engine of effort, quite good at hitting things with a hammer but not so good at dodging. However, unlike the knight, he didn't stay in melee range to get bit.

The elf has almost supernatural reflexes and situational awareness and is a crack shot... but the dice were not on their side.

The town watchman is oddly crap in combat to the point they wanted to sell their sword for something where if they missed, at least they weren't next to whatever they missed. They are, however, keen-eyed and socially adept.

Amusingly enough, had the elf examined the adorable girl who accosted them, their tiny knack for magic would have revealed the revenant was somehow magical... but they were the one person who didn't side-eye the dead girl as she led them into an ambush.

In Women of Futures Past, Rusch quotes Willis:

"The field didn't just have women writers--it had really good women writers. These were wonderful stories, and I don't believe they were overlooked at the time, because when I read them, they were all in Year's Best collections."

Rusch speculates that Willis is referencing Merril's Best S-F. However, Rusch says she only did a spot check. I reread the whole of Merril's Best S-F in 2023. Her anthologies were mostly stories by men.

OK, so maybe it was one of the other Best SF series around back then? But I checked Bleiler and Dikty, Harrison & Aldiss, and Wollheim & Carr and it's not them.

Was there another 1950s-1960s Best SF series?

Or was Willis thinking of a magazine-specific annual like Analog 1?

Not literally Analog 1, obs. But something like it from another magazine.

My guess, having checked the early years, is Willis was reading The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction. Specifically, Boucher's run.

(Guess two would have been something edited by Goldsmith but she does not appear to have edited anthologies)

In the 1970s, many of the best new authors were women — the trick was finding their work.

Women Have Always Written SFF — But It Wasn’t Always Easy to Find

Yes, I know comments are not working. No, I have no control over that. Yes, I have mentioned the issue repeatedly. No, I don't know when it will be fixed.

War crime survivor turned expert swordswoman and student sorcerer Cheon resolves to obliterate the nation responsible, make herself queen, and find a like-minded woman to court.

The Four Wishes (Cheon of Weltanland, volume 1) by Charlotte Stone

2009: The Horrible Histories TV show debuts, Britons are treated to a Giles-worthy winter, and police decline to investigate the cash for influence incident so that they might better focus on the custard-tossing scandal rocking the nation.



Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.

Which 2009 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Song of Time by Ian R. MacLeod
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
Martin Martin's on the Other Side by Mark Wernham
The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley

With an * on the McAuley because it was too grim and I didn't finish it.

Two Americans set out for Venus. Only one returned. Where is the missing man? Evans knows but Evans is not a reliable witness.

Beyond Apollo by Barry N. Malzberg

The Sidewise Award for Alternate History is looking for new judges to join the award committee.

This is the first time in the 30 year history of the award that they've made an open call for awards judges.

Apply here.

Hosted by Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Liz May Anderson.

Sunday August 10 at 5 PM: Livestream broadcast of the 2025 Aurora Awards, Canada’s annual English-language Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards.

More details later but it seems the group is essentially Don Quixote in the form of a Brettonian knight's bastard who has completely bought into chivalric ideals despite the fact no true knight considers him worthy to have such ideals, and an assortment of hangers-on who see him as a meal ticket.

Which is to say, the group is centred on someone who will seek out adventure.